Broken
by ladymars
Summary: When the only hope for a case is a broken man, the haunting cry of death is always curling around the next corner.


Broken

Lady Mars

Disclaimer: Once again, I am not laying claims on Heat Guy J. I'm just using them to my own devices again.

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* * *

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_"I wonder if the things I did were just to be different,  
To spare myself of the constant shame of my existence.  
And I would surely redeem myself in my desperation;  
Here and now I'll express, my situation."_

_Shinedown – Burning Bright_

* * *

The hallway was shrouded in darkness; a darkness unlike any other he had ever seen. Darkness that penetrated the soul, shook the nerves, frightened the mind. This darkness was far from the comforting blanket that always fell over his room, the darkness that felt safe to him. This darkness had him more nervous than he had ever been. His senses were screaming at him, telling him to go back from where he had come from, but something else was driving him forward.

The force that was driving him forward was a force he had reckoned with before. This was something that he had seen and dealt with before, but would never admit to liking. This force was something of another sense to him, a sense that had lurked in the corners of his mind ever since he was young, ever since his mother had left.

This sense always alerted him to any oncoming danger, to anything unforeseen lurking in the shadows. It was always there telling him what was going on around him, but he didn't always listen to it when it told him something was up. And though his normal senses were telling him that this area was dangerous, his other sense kept telling him that it was safe to keep pressing on, so he continued on his way.

He kept one hand on the wall to guide him and keep him grounded in the flood of pitch darkness. He had been down this hallway before, but he had never quite seen it like this. It was never this dark, never this menacing, never this terrifying.

He pushed open the first door carefully; he wasn't sure if there was something else lurking in the darkness beyond the threshold and he really had no desire to find out if there was the hard way. He meekly stuck his head past the door and gave the room a few once overs. Once he had determined that he was also alone in this room, he straightened a little. There was something oddly assuring about being alone in the room.

He carefully walked into the room, walking slowly so he wouldn't run into any of the various pieces of furniture that littered the office. If the bad feeling he was having was connected to anything actually living, crashing into a well placed hunk of furniture would get him killed almost instantly for sure. And the last thing he wanted now was an instantaneous death.

He slowly crept around the furniture and up to the next door, stopping again at its wooden face. He set his hand on the mass, trying to calm himself once again. The thing that was calling him was on the other side of the door and now he was more terrified than ever.

Something behind that door was calling to him, causing him to want to press on, but keeping him from moving in the same breath. This was unlike any fear he had ever experienced, it was more pressing, more frightening. But this insatiable fear wasn't going to stop him, not yet at least. He was too determined to find out what had been calling him here in the first place to turn and run back to safety now.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, he pushed the door open and crept inside of the office. He didn't hesitate as he had at the last threshold, but he still kept a firm grip on the doorknob. He found it ironic how something so small could keep him so well grounded in a time like this.

He scanned the room apprehensively; it was far too quiet for his liking. It was like the darkness that blanketed the room was swallowing the sound along with the light. But, in good fortune to his rattled nerves, there was nothing else in the room with him. Only the dreaded silence and the comforting darkness were present.

He stepped away from the door and slowly released his grasp on the doorknob, leaving his one grounding structure behind with a deep, foreboding thundering in his chest. The door swung slowly back on its hinges, shutting behind him with a silent click. The last bridge between him and safety was now annihilated. It was only him and whatever was lurking in the darkness that drew him into the room.

With cautious steps, he began walking towards the desk. A desk that he had perched upon innumerous times and now was the most solid object in his sights.

He continued on his way, scanning the shadowed corners to make sure something wasn't going to jump out of them and mug him unexpectedly. But as far as he could tell, he was the only one in the room. His solidarity was now driving him more and more to towards the fear that was driving him to leave. This fear rattled his nerves and scared his soul, but something else was driving forward. This other force was coming from one of his other senses, one that told him something was deeply wrong.

He stepped carefully across the tile floor, his footfalls echoing off of the walls. The darkness was staring to seep into his conscious thought as he walked along; the only light was the slight reflection off of the tiles below his feet. He continued on his designated path toward the end of the office until his feet almost went out from under him.

He skittered backwards, back to where he had last felt solid ground and looked to where he had just been walking. His heart thundered in his chest as he took in the sight before him. Before him, drying on the tile, was a message scrawled in blood. The curving letters of drying blood foretold his doom: "You're next."

He backed away from the ghastly portent just to run into the desk he was so desperately seeking. From his new safe heaven, the door never seemed further away in his entire life. His only refuge was now too far out of his reach for his liking and an omen was lying between him and it.

With a racing pulse and short, panting breaths, he slowly turned to face the desk he had been leaning on, his eyes locked shut. He was rather unsure of what was waiting for him on the opposite side of the oaken mass and he was becoming more readily assured that he didn't want to know what was going to spring forth from the darkness when he opened his eyes.

Gripping the desk with force enough to break it, he warily opened his eyes. To his relief or chagrin, he couldn't decide which at the given moment, there was nothing in his immediate field of vision. But this momentary reprieve didn't calm his frazzled nerves in the least. Something else was making each and every one of his sense scream out in extreme protest telling him to flee in terror. But the consistent caterwauling wasn't going to stop him from finding what had drawn him into the tomb of an office.

Swallowing against the fear creeping up shi throat, he crept around the side of the desk. Once around the back, his eyes locked on the source of the ink used for his death message.

The grotesque scene behind the desk made him turn almost immediately, but the image was burned into his head.

The corpse was drowning in a pool of its own blood; blood that had spilled from three concentric bullet holes at center mass and one between the eyes for seemingly good measures.

But nothing could mask the familiar face of the dead. Not the blood clinging to everything, not the darkness that swallowed everything in its grasp, not even the tears that welled up in his eyes. The body was definitely familiar; the body was none other than his…

* * *

Daisuke awoke from the haunting dream with a start. With his breaths coming to him in short pants and covered in a fine sheen of sweat, he clawed at the sheets with his left hand and held his bullet necklace to the point of snapping the chain in his right. He had to be assured that he wasn't still trapped in the clutches of the nightmare.

But despite the fact that he was away from the haunting images, there was still something unnerving about the frightening dream. Even though it had been almost twenty years since his father's gruesome assassination, the nightmare would pop in and rattle his nerves. And it seemed that every time he waded through the memories, the dream would be a little different in setting and situation, but it would always end with the image of his father's mangled corpse. And it wasn't helping that this time the only comfort he was getting was from the darkness that blanketed the apartment.

He untangled his legs from the coil of sweat dampened sheets and swung them around to set his feet on the cold tile floor. He shuddered at the sudden temperature change, but still got up and padded to the bathroom to survey the damage that the dream had left behind.

He walked into the bathroom and flicked on the lights, regretting it almost instantaneously.

"Damn florescent bulbs," he mumbled, blinking a few times to get his eyes accustomed to the introduction of light. Upon seeing his disheveled reflection in the mirror, he regretted clearing his vision. It looked like he had been having the nightmare for most of the night. _'Night? Is it still night?'_ He glanced at the clock hanging on his bathroom wall and groaned. _'6:30? Damn, that is most definitely morning.' _He flicked off the light and walked back to his bed.

Daisuke settled back down onto the piece of furniture, relishing in the darkness that encased the room. He had enjoyed the subtle comforts that came with sitting alone in the dark, even more so since joining the agency. But even the calm embrace of darkness couldn't soothe his rattled nerves; something was really bothering him about the dream more than usual. It scared him to the core, a feeling he hadn't had since he first bean to have the dream all those many years ago.

Marius Aurora's death had triggered a series of stressful events which culminated with innumerous nights plagued by nightmares for Daisuke. Though Shun had been the one to witness the assassination, it was Dice who reaped its long-term repercussions. After Shun's release from the hospital, Daisuke was torn from sleep by horrid images that never stopped playing. His only solace was found in the gentle embrace of his older brother, but he was alone with his images and his rattled nerves this time.

With an exasperated sigh, Daisuke got up again. _'If I'm not going to be able to sleep, I might as well get an early start on the day.'_ Much to his body's chagrin, Daisuke padded to the kitchen, flicking on the lights, and began his unusually early day.

* * *

Daisuke shifted his weight onto the bar in the elevator, his mind wandering back to his nightmare. No matter what he did, he couldn't shake the bad feeling that radiated from the lingering from the dream. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the doors open.

"You're here awfully early." Daisuke looked up from his spot on the floor. His cold gaze locked with his brother's teasing one.

"And you're running late, so what?" he spat back. Shun stepped through the doors and arced his eyebrow at his brother's response.

"And what has your tail in a knot this morning?" Shun asked back.

"The fact that you're here giving me the third degree while I'm trying to think," he responded coldly.

"Well you should be glad that I'm not here for you for once," Shun said back, trying to keep his tone level.

"Oh, I'm so glad about that." The phrase dripped with sarcasm. The pair stood in silence as the elevator began to rise again. The remained that way for a few floors before Shun spoke again.

"Are you sure there isn't anything….?"

"I had it again," Daisuke mumbled, cutting off his brother. Shun stood, mildly shocked.

"Are… are you sure?" Shun managed to stutter.

"No doubt." Daisuke pulled off his sunglasses and met Shun's gaze again, his own wavering. "It was the same one I had years ago."

"What spawned this?" Daisuke shook his head.

"Nothing, or at least nothing I know of. It just sprung up out of the blue." Daisuke stopped rather forcibly at the end of the sentence. Despite Dice's best efforts, Shun caught on to the drop off and decided to press on; this was one of the things that needed to be addressed.

"Is there something else you're not telling me?" Shun asked cautiously; Daisuke sighed heavily.

"Yeah," he replied quietly. "There is actually." He shifted nervously, not really sure on how to carry on. Shun set his hand on his younger brother's in a gesture of silent encouragement. "I… I have this feeling that… that…" Daisuke sighed, trying to calm his nerves. "I'm having the ominous feeling along with it." Shun stared at his brother, really surprised.

"How ominous is it?"

"The kind of ominous that never leaves your current thought."

"That bad?" Daisuke nodded; Shun sighed. "I don't really know what to tell you Dice. You know as well as I that you've had this same dream hundreds of thousands of times before and you've had the same feeling before along with it, but has anything happened?" Daisuke shook his head again. "Then you really shouldn't get worked up over this, it'll pass just like all the others. You should know damn well that there is nothing to be afraid of." Daisuke sighed again.

"It's not that Shun, it's just this one has me more rattled than usual. There was something about it that has all of my senses reeling and is leaving me in a state of disarray."

"So is that why you're here early?" He nodded again.

"I'm hoping the paperwork I've amassed will keep my mind off of this for a few hours."

"And what happens when you get that done?"

"I'm screwed. I don't really like working in the rain and most of the bosses tend to keep out of it too… It's gonna be a long day." Shun chuckled lightly.

"Well since it's going to be hellacious for the both of us, what do you say we meet for lunch and revel in our misery together?" Daisuke cast a puzzled gaze upon his brother.

"Are you going to be here all day?" Shun shook his head.

"No, but I'm trying, at least give me that much credit." Daisuke chuckled lightly.

"12:30, your office then?"

"Sounds good." The elevator ground to a halt and the door swung open. Daisuke stood from his leaning position and walked out. "And Dice." He stopped outside of the doors and turned to face Shun. "Don't let it get to you too much, ok?" Daisuke nodded.

"I'll see ya later." Shun watched him disappear from sight and then the door close. Once alone, his thoughts turned back to Daisuke. _'Here's hoping that the one sense isn't riling him up because if it is, we're all in deep trouble.'_

* * *

Kyoko shook the water out of her umbrella before stepping into the office. It was almost nine-thirty, but the only excuse she could come up with was the awful rain that had settled over the city. She could subconsciously sense that it was going to be 'one of those days.'

"Good morning Kyoko, you are looking as radiant as ever," J chimed. She smiled lightly; leave it to an android to know how to cheer her up.

"I would say good morning, but it's a bit to rainy for that," she replied. J didn't respond; the weather never really had any effect on him. "I take it by the silence that Dice hasn't shown up yet?"  
"Sorry to ruin your fun…" Daisuke stated from his sprawled out position on the couch. Kyoko turned to her officemate.

"Slacking off again Daisuke?" Kyoko asked, her voice beginning to leak with venom. Daisuke smirked at her response.

"Yes, but it is well worth it," he replied cockily and pointed at her desk. Kyoko followed his arm to her desk.

Precariously place on the middle of her desk was a rather large stack of paper. "Is that enough work done for me to be loafing around all ready?" Kyoko didn't respond; she was too shocked. She had never seen that much work on her desk at one time.

"How much… how much…?" She stammered.

"How much back work is that? About two months worth, but that's not any of the major reports. I'll be getting to those in a minute." She stared at her officemate in utter amazement.

"You got all of that done this morning?" Daisuke nodded. "Including all of the activities logs?" He nodded again.

"All of them done in painstaking detail." Daisuke sat up and walked over to his desk, knocking his mouse to start his computer up again. He sat down and began typing.

"Who are you and what have you done with Daisuke?" Daisuke chuckled.

"You didn't get the memo about my evil clone taking my place?" Kyoko rolled her eyes.

"You are such a weirdo," Kyoko responded, sitting behind her desk.

The pair worked for hours in almost silence. J watched the two of them silently; it was always more peaceful when they actually got along.

A little after noon, Daisuke shut down his computer and got up from his desk and plopped the remaining reports on Kyoko's desk.

"That's the rest of it." Kyoko looked up form her reading.

"Absolutely all of it?" Daisuke nodded. He stood there for another moment. She looked up at him again. "Is there something else you wanted?"

"I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving; I'm having lunch with Shun." Kyoko waved him off. Daisuke swung his keys into his hand and walked to the door. He nodded to J and left. Kyoko sighed. Even though it was nice to have all of his paperwork in line again, it made her job a lot more difficult. _'It is going to be one of those days again…'_

* * *

Daisuke swung the door to Shun's office open. He smiled at Phia as he approached. The redhead smiled back at him.

"Good afternoon Phia, how are you doing today?" Daisuke quipped. Phia shrugged.

"I can't really complain," she replied. "I could do without the rain, but…" Daisuke chuckled, pulling off his wet outer, white jacket. He shook the dripping water out of it before putting back on.

"I whole heartedly agree with you there." She giggled lightly. "Is Shun in?" She nodded.

"He came back a few hours ago complaining about the rain and incompetence of something… It didn't make a lick of sense to me." Daisuke chuckled.

"People tend to be incompetent around here," he replied rather bluntly.

"Are you here to see him about something?" She asked. It was rather unusual to see the younger Aurora pop in to see the elder without reason.

"Nope," he replied. "I actually didn't do something for once." He thought about the sentence for a second, realizing what he was implying. "I shouldn't be proud of that, should I?" Phia chuckled openly at him.

"No, I don't think you should." Daisuke sighed.

"I'm trying here Phia, I'm trying." He turned to the door and swung it open without entering the office. "We're actually having lunch together today." Phia smiled.

"I hope you enjoy yourself," she replied chipperly. Daisuke smiled.

"I know we will." He stepped through the door and scanned the office.

To his surprise, there was nothing there. There was no sign of his brother, or any sign that he was ever there.

Daisuke took a few steps forward, trying to figure out why his brother wasn't there. The air was silent and colder than it usually was. The chill in the air caused the air on the back of his neck to rise, forcing his favorite sense to rear its ugly head again.

He knew that feeling was always bad news. Something about its presence always meant something bad was about to happen or something bad had all ready happened.

His hand instinctively flew to where his gun usually rested, but it wasn't there. He had left it at the office despite the nagging feeling that lingered at the back of his head, he had gone off unarmed. Now he regretted it.

Daisuke walked along slowly, scanning the room to make sure there wasn't anyone else in the room with him. There was nothing there, nothing there that could be causing this bad feeling, but it still lingered.

He walked slowly towards the office, but stopped in the middle when a new sensation slammed into his head.

He knew the odor all to well. It left a bad taste in his mouth and sent a cold chill racing down his spine. The taste was coppery and the smell was acidic. He knew instantly; somewhere in the office blood had been spilled.

Daisuke quickened his pace in fear and came to a screeching halt at the end of the desk. His stomach fell at the sight behind the desk. Before he could process anything, he bolted.

He slammed full force out of the doors, startling Phia and drawing her attention to him. He leaned heavily on her desk, panting and trying to get himself under control.

"Daisuke?" she asked carefully. He stammered a few times before actually being able to speak.

"You… you… you need to call for an ambulance, NOW!" he finally stammered out. Phia stared at him for a moment before springing into action.

While she did that, Daisuke raced back into the office. He skidded across the floor and around the back of the desk to the prone form of his brother.

The blood he had smelled was from the pool coagulating under Shun from three gunshot wounds. He placed his left hand over the tight cluster to quell the bleeding and set his right hand on his brother's throat. He could feel the weak pressure behind his fingers signaling that he was still alive, but just barely.

Daisuke slid his hand up the side of Shun's face, holding back the tears that threatened to spill. _'Please Shun, don't leave me. I… I can't do this without you.'_

* * *

Daisuke sat in the hard plastic chairs, staring at the ceiling. He had spent the last half an hour doing this; time was passing much to slow for his liking. _'Couldn't listen to that stupid little voice, COULD YOU? Couldn't listen to it and go find out what was going on sooner, COULD YOU?' _His mind chastised repeatedly.

He knew he should have listened to the haunting voice in the back of his head, but he hadn't. _'I should have seen this coming, I really should have. The dream, the cold feeling… DAMN IT! How could I have been so blind?'_

Kyoko stood off to the side of the waiting room, watching the man quietly. She had only been there a few moments, but she could tell that he was distressed. He hadn't moved an inch since she had been there, not even to remove his blood stained jacket.

The only reason she had known where he was J had picked up on the 911 call from Phia's office. The android had suggested that she should go check on the welfare of his partner. She didn't understand why J couldn't come himself, but she wasn't one to argue with the 7 and a half foot android.

She walked slowly to the row of chairs that he was sitting on and stopped next to him.

"Daisuke?" she asked quietly. He finally looked down from the ceiling, his eyes betraying his true emotions. She sat next to him, his gaze never leaving her. "You heard anything yet?" He shook his head. They sat in silence for a few moments before she spoke again. "Are you ok?" Daisuke stared at her for a moment before shaking his head. He sniffled a few times, the first few tears falling.

Without hesitation, Kyoko pulled the man into a gentle embrace. Daisuke didn't resist the gentle coaxing of his coworker; he was too emotionally distraught to think of anything but his brother. This was the closest to death he had ever courted and was scared that his brother would be pulled out of his weak grasp too soon.

As he cried into her shoulder, Kyoko mindlessly rubbed gentle circles on Daisuke's back. She wasn't really sure what else she could do; she had never experienced something as traumatizing as this. She could barely grasp the kind of pain the younger man was in. she had never come anywhere near having a family member shot numerous times. All she could do was offer him a shoulder to cry on during his time of pain.

After a few long minutes, Daisuke's sobs began to slow down. Kyoko continued rub his back as he settled down again knowing that he needed someone to be there for him. She continued until he pulled slightly out of her embrace to rub at his eyes.

Daisuke rubbed at his eyes, trying to rid himself of the errant tears, but since he was still crying so there was no point to the gesture. He was trying to control himself, but it wasn't really working for him.

Kyoko reached up to the other side of his face and wiped away another one of his errant tears, staring into his red rimmed eyes. Daisuke swallowed a few times to dispose the lump in his throat, but Kyoko beat him to the punch.

"I take it you haven't heard anything yet?" Daisuke shook his head, not trusting his voice. "How long have you been here?" Daisuke looked at the clock on the wall adjacent to them, and then started calculating on his fingers.

"An hour and forty five minutes, give or take a few," he mumbled, dropping his hand back into his lap.

"And they've been working on him since then?" He nodded again. Sensing his distress, Kyoko placed her hand on the side of his head and drew their gazes back together. "He'll be fine. You couldn't ask for better people working to help him, ok?" Daisuke nodded weakly.

Despite his best efforts to pull himself back together, Daisuke was still a mess. He was soggy from the rain and was still covered in blood.

Kyoko smiled weakly at him and pulled him into another embrace. Daisuke buried his head into her shoulder, trying not to cry again. Kyoko rubbed his back again, trying to comfort her officemate.

"Aurora?" At the annunciation of his last name, Daisuke's head snapped up. He sat there for a moment before Kyoko gave him a shove.

"Go," she said. "The doctor isn't going to wait forever and I'll be here when you get back." He nodded, got up, and walked over to the doctor. The short, brunette woman motioned for them to go somewhere a bit more private.

"Mr. Aurora?" she asked. Daisuke nodded. "I'm Doctor Aogiri, I'd ask you how you're holding up but that's kind of arbitrary, now isn't it?" He nodded. "Well then let's cut to the chase, shall we?" She took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm going to be frank with you: it doesn't look good. The bullets damaged quite a few vital organs. We took him upstairs to the OR a few moments ago to see what can be done, but it's not looking hopeful Mr. Aurora. Even if he does make it through the surgery, he'll be very lucky if he survives the night. I don't like saying this, but I think you should prepare for the worst." She set her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." With that, she turned and left.

Daisuke took a shaky breath before walking back to the benches and sitting next to Kyoko. The woman stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to say to him. Before she could formulate a sentence, Daisuke broke down again. Kyoko wrapped her arm around him, giving him a shoulder to cry on again.

* * *

Daisuke stood just outside of the door, unwilling to go in. He knew that he should, but he couldn't muster up the nerve. _'This isn't like Dad.'_ No matter what he thought, he couldn't push the image of his father's mangled corpse out of his head. _'But this isn't Dad and he isn't dead.'_ The thought still lingered coupled with the vision of his brother's dead body. He swallowed against the tears that were welling up. _'Get over yourself and do it damnit! You'll never forgive yourself if you don't!'_ Swallowing again, he pushed the door open and crept inside.

The lights were low, but that didn't change the hue of his brother's skin. He was used to it being white; they were both considerably paler than the rest of the world, but never as white as the sheets he was wrapped in.

He had been warned of the various machines scattered about that were being used to keep his brother alive, but it still didn't make the experience any less traumatic. The whole room made him realize how close to death his brother was which made him even more unsettled.

He wanted to move, if not to get closer then to flee, but his anxieties caused by the situation caused him to stay rooted to the spot. His mind and body were at war and neither side would yield to the other. So there he stood, biting back tears, unable to move, in the doorway to the room on the ICU that belonged to his older brother.

He stood there for a few moments, his body still at war with itself, before a victor was announced. With stiff authority, his brain forced his muscles into compliance and he bolted out of the door with a chocked sob.

He darted around anyone who was in the hallway, only wanting to get out. He wanted to get out of this horrid nightmare, wake up in his own bed, and act like it hadn't happened. But he knew he wouldn't wake up from this, it actually happened.

He ran straight past the small waiting room where Kyoko sat awaiting his return. She saw him bolt by, but didn't move fast enough to get a hold of him.

Daisuke kept running until he ran full force into a rather large, solid object that he hadn't seen. He started to fall backwards from the force of impact, but was caught and righted again before he could process what had happened.

He furiously rubbed some of the tears out of his eyes to clear his vision and figure out whom he had plowed into.

Daisuke slowly looked up at his unlikely accident and smiled weakly before falling into another round of sobs.

J, momentarily stunned by his partner's reaction, pulled the man into an impromptu embrace; Daisuke clung to the android's coat, finally releasing all of his pent up emotions.

Kyoko watched the scene silently from the waiting room. The pair stood in the middle of the hall, oblivious to everything; one man crying out of fear, agony, and stress and the other doing his best to console the other though he had no prior experience. It would have been heart warming had the situation surrounding it not been so tragic.

* * *

Kyoko glanced around the quiet room, wondering about her officemate's well being. Despite her insistent pressuring, Daisuke had shown up for work. He had looked like hell when he had walked through the door. It looked like he hadn't slept all night and it looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. She had tried to convince him to go home again, but he wouldn't hear of it. She would have pressed the subject more, but he had been called in for questioning.

Since he had left, the office had fallen into an eerie silence. She had tried to keep herself distracted until Daisuke got back, but it had been to no avail. There was nothing that she could have done to keep herself occupied for long stretches of time. Her mind was still wrapped around the previous day's events.

She couldn't quite grasp what would drive someone to do something like that, but she didn't know much about that kind of thing to begin with. She was also struggling to grasp what Daisuke was going through.

It was hard to fathom the kind of pain that one would go through coming so very close to loosing a family member. And the fact that it was the only family you had left would have made it infinitely worse.

Kyoko sat, fiddling with the hem of her dress, not really sure about what else to do. She felt obligated to do something, but she couldn't figure out what it was.

She would have continued to contemplate it, but Daisuke had returned, collapsing into the couch. If he looked like hell when he left, he looked like he had died sitting there.

Kyoko stood form her desk and walked to where he sat, sitting down next to him.

"Daisuke?' she asked quietly. The blonde turned to her, his gaze wavering and gloomy. "That bad?" He nodded.

"I…" His voice cracked as he tried to speak. "I can't believe that they would think that… Don't they have any idea how absurd it is?" Kyoko stared at him, unsure of what he was talking about.

"What's so absurd?" she asked quietly. Daisuke choked back his tears before carrying on.

"They think… They think…" He fumbled over his words for a moment. He chocked back his tears once again. "They think that I did this." Kyoko stared at him for a moment, stunned at what he had said.

"They think…?" Daisuke nodded fervently.

"I don't know WHY they think that, but…" He chocked back another sob. "God… Why would they even? How could they think I'd be capable of DOING THAT?" The first few tears ran down the planes of his face. "It's bad enough that we don't get along, but killing him?" He shook his head. "There's no way… I couldn't do it." Kyoko pulled him into a gentle embrace.

"I know you couldn't Dice," she whispered. Daisuke set his head on her shoulder, trying to ward off another round of tears. "I don't know how they could even think that. God, that's awful." Daisuke didn't reply; he was too numb to really care about anything. Kyoko slowly released him, forcing the man to meet her gaze again. "Are you going to be ok?" Daisuke sighed, his gaze floating down to the couch.

"I don't know," he replied with a sigh. "I just don't know how much of this I can take." Kyoko tool his chin in her hand, forcing their gazes back together.

"You know I'm always willing to listen, don't you?" Daisuke nodded. "Ok." She ruffled his hair playfully in a vain attempt to cheer him up. "Now I think you need to get out of here. The longer you stay here, the more likely they are to call you in for more psyche abuse. And you don't need that right now." Daisuke nodded and slowly got to his feet; Kyoko got up after him.

The blonde man slowly walked towards the door, still torn over what he should do. "And Dice." He stopped and turned slightly to face her. "If you don't want to come in for the next couple of days, I won't hold it against you." He nodded and then left the office.

Kyoko sighed, returning to her workstation. _'He's not going to get any peace until this is all sorted out.'_

* * *

It had been a few days since he had set foot in any of the city's numerous offices, but his mind wouldn't let him stray from the thoughts of his brother and the case.

Daisuke leaned heavily on the doorframe to his brother's office. The room was still immaculately clean and empty despite the intensive search that had been conducted days prior.

"Whole lotta nothing there, huh?" Daisuke shifted slightly to look over his shoulder. When he recognized the form of Ken Edmundo at the other end of the room, he resumed his quiet staring. "Taking a vow of silence now?" Daisuke shrugged.

"Does it really matter?" he questioned back with a gravely voice. Ken sighed and approached the younger detective.

"You know anything else you can tell us would be a great help to getting this all closed up." Daisuke snorted.

"I told you everything I know Edmundo," he growled. "I didn't do it; let the fucker go." Ken sighed.

"I am aware of that," he replied flatly. "But we're grasping at straws here Aurora, anything you could give us would be a big help."

"I've told you every second of that day," he growled again. "Nothing has changed, nothing will change. I have nothing more to tell you." Ken sighed; it was obvious that he wasn't going to get anything else out of him.

"So what are you doing here?" Daisuke shrugged.

"Looking, I guess."

"Looking for something in particular?" Daisuke shrugged again.

"Not really. There isn't much here to look for." He made a vague gesture around the room. "Plus the forensics guys have torn it apart and not found anything."

"That is true… You wanna have a look?" Daisuke was caught off guard by the question.

"What?"

"Couldn't hurt could it? Plus you seem to have a natural affinity to finding the little things that everyone else misses." Daisuke shrugged, stood up, and stepped over the tape blocking the doorway.

He walked slowly out to the center of the office, trying to shake the stigma that he harbored. "We know who ever did this didn't come in the door," Edmundo started, stepping in behind Daisuke. "Phia would have seen them if they had come in that way."'

"That also eliminates someone being in here." Edmundo shot him a confused gaze.

"Why is that?"

"Phia took her break at 10:00 that day and Shun was still in my building at that time. I ran into him as he was leaving." Daisuke answered the question before Ken could ask it.

"Which narrows it down to three options then: You, Phia, and Shun himself."

"None of which make any sense, Ken. You and I both know that." Daisuke walked slowly up the length of the office, slowly going around the back of Shun's desk. "I was in my office at the time of the shooting; J and Kyoko can verify that. Phia didn't do it because she has no access to a gun and Marissa from ID was here with her at the time. And Shun couldn't have done it because the angle is impossible for anyone to shoot themselves." He stopped suddenly, gazing at the floor. "Hey Ken, did the boys in forensics complain about getting wet when they were in here?"

"No, why would you ask that?"

"There's three inches of standing water back here." Ken jogged up to where Daisuke was.

"Well I'll be damned. Where did that come from?"

"I'd wager…" He punched a button on the console, causing the blinds to rise. "Up there." Daisuke pointed and Ken followed the line of his arm to a higher point on the window.

"What? I can see anything."

"There's a hairline crack coming from a bullet hole. Who ever did this was on the outside of the building. Tough shot too considering it was raining." Daisuke walked back around the desk and towards the door. Ken watched the blonde leave, stunned. "And you're welcome Ken." Daisuke stepped out of the office and disappeared from sight.

"How did he…?"

* * *

Daisuke sat at his brother's bedside, his arms folded on the railing, his chin resting on top of them. He was watching the gentle rise and fall Shun's chest and listening to the steady beeping of the heart monitor behind him; the only things that assured him his older brother was still, technically, alive.

Even though the prone form was technically alive, it didn't make Daisuke feel any better. It was hard for him to grasp how close his brother was to death and it was harder for him to accept it.

Though he had finally steeled up enough nerve to actually come and sit by his brother's bed, he was still uneasy about the whole situation. The last time he had dealt with death, it and been swift and painless; it was becoming too much to watch his brother waste away. And yet he was still there, spending countless hours bathed in silence, thinking about everything and nothing all in one.

There was something oddly comforting about the sterility of the room and the repetitive noise that came from the various machines. The strange symphony gave him a clarity he could have never gotten anywhere else. And he would have gotten some real mind twisting thinking done if it weren't for the nurses just outside of the door.

Why they had chosen to stop there was beyond Daisuke, but he could hear them conversing quietly outside of the door.

"It's the strangest thing," one of the two said quietly. "He just sits there, staring, for hours on end. Never says a word." Daisuke sighed; he wanted to tell them that he could hear them, but didn't want to put forth the effort to get up and do it. The quiet conversation died as the two left, leaving him wrapped up in his unusual symphony again.

His mind floated from idea to idea, but all ended up right back where he started at the beginning of that day: the bullet through the glass in Shun's office.

_'There's no way that it came from a close proximity. The angle is impossible to get from anything close, that and the glass was too in tact for it to be close. So that means it came from a good distance away and somewhere adjacent to the building… Which is next to impossible because no other building is that tall and that close. The closest one at that height it three blocks away; no man could make that even with the right gun. And you know damn well that NO ONE can get a long ranger weapon of that caliber in the city; they aren't produced up here for that kind of action. And the only people who have access to that kind of thing in the… under… ground…'_ His train of thought slowly ground to a halt for a moment before coming back in over-drive. _'But why the hell would they do a thing like that? And for that matter, who the hell would do a thing like that?'_

Daisuke was pulled out of his ravine by a gentle tap on the door frame. He sat up and turned slightly, locking eyes with one of the man floor nurses.

"Sorry kiddo," she said quietly. "Your time is up." Daisuke nodded and turned back to his brother. He stood and brushed an errant lock of hair away from in unconscious man's face before turning on his heel and leaving.

As he strode down the hall toward the exit of the floor, his mind wrapped around a devious idea to get to the root of the problem. _'Kyoko is going to kill me for this one.'_

* * *

Daisuke walked into his brother's office a grim determination set on his face. The only conclusion to the problem he faced lied in his brother's computer. He figured that Shun was getting into something that someone didn't like which would cause an assignation attempt.

The investigation team had finally realized that they weren't going to pull anything else out of the office and had opened it back to the public, allowing Daisuke full access to what he wanted.

He sat down in Shun's chair and started up the computer. Daisuke punched in Shun's social security number followed by his own birthday, thus gaining access to the unit. _'You would after punching it in day after day he would be able to remember my birthday. Way to go Shunski, you're more incompetent than I ever would have thought.'_

Daisuke began rooting around in the files, trying to find something out of the ordinary in the files. He shifted through the various, but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. _'God Shun, what do you actually do up here all day? Is there nothing the slightest bit interesting in here?'_ He moved on to another folder finding only on file in it. _'Well hello there. And who might we be?' _He tried to open it, but received a password prompt. He tired everything he could think of, but couldn't get in. _'Damnit. There must be something good in here… I wonder how… Sweet Jesus, this from back when Dad was alive. What would Shun be doing with a file that old?'_

"You finding anything interesting on your brother's computer there?" Daisuke looked up at the smirk on Phia's face.

"Well… I…" he couldn't formulate a complete answer.

"Don't worry about it," Phia replied with a chuckle. "I'm not going to tell anyone. It's not like anyone besides you actually has enough sense to check that thing." Daisuke chewed on his lip for a second.

"Phia, you work with Shun," he started. "Why one Earth would the Chief of the City Safety Management Agency need a secure file dating back to when our father was in office?" Phia shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Daisuke sighed, shut down the computer, and got up.

"Thanks anyway Phia." He walked away from the woman and toward the door.

"Daisuke." He stopped and turned back to her. "I hope you figure out what's going on; I can't stand any more of this dancing around without any answers." Daisuke smiled.

"I hear ya Phia, I hear ya." He turned and walked out, heading back to his own office to call it a day and get the next phase of his plan in action

* * *

Kyoko smiled as she stepped through the door to the office; the sun was a nice change from the dismal rain that had been pelting the city for endless days.

"Good morning Kyoko." She smiled at J.

"Good morning J," she said chipperly. "It's nice to have a change in the weather, don't you think?"

"Yes, people's moods tend to emulate weather patterns, so nicer weather usually yields happier people." Kyoko chuckled; he had given the typical J answer.

"I have to agree with you on that one…" She stalled for a moment, her mind wandering. "J, have you seen Daisuke this morning?"

"No," he replied flatly. "He has not come in this morning." She sighed; she was hoping he would be there so she could talk to him.

"Thanks anyway J." She turned back to go to her desk, but the reflection of light in her eye drew her gaze to the couch.

The man sprawled out on the furniture piece looked as if he had crawled out of one of the city's gothic clubs.

Black combat boots that perched upon the couch arm disappeared into black leather pants that hugged the gentle curves of their owner's legs. The black muscle shirt was obscured by his fishnet covered arms. Each of his hands was covered by black, fingerless, studded gloves, revealing the delicately, black painted nails of his fingers.

The shirt too hugged the definitive curves of its owner, but not as much as the leather. The material shined slightly under the light of the office as the man shifted under Kyoko's scrutinous gaze.

The man's black sunglasses were precariously balanced on the end of his nose obscured by a lock of teal hair that he kept shifting out of the way just to have it fall back into place again.

The topper on the cake was the black lipstick that adorned his scowling lips; without it, he would have looked like a vampire, but with it, the gothic look was a complete success.

"Excuse me," she said, trying to keep her tone level. "I would appreciate it if guests of the Unit did not treat the furniture in such a way." The man peered over his sunglasses with sharp, lime green eyes. Kyoko stepped back a few steps, stunned at what she was seeing. "DAISUKE?" She finally managed to blurt out.

The man swung his legs off the end of the couch and sat up, gazing up at Kyoko.

"Took you long enough to figure it out," he mumbled, rising from his seat. He walked around the stunned woman, over to his desk, and plucked the long, plastic like coat off the back of his chair.

Kyoko spun on her heel to stare at him once again. He was sliding into his coat, demonstrating what the outfit really did for his lithe figure much better than it had when he was sprawled out on the couch.

"What's with the get up? Are you working you costume out for Halloween?" Daisuke snorted lightly.

"If that were only the case." He turned back to her, looking taller and more condescending than he had ever looked. "I'm here to tell you that I won't be back in for a while. Call it time off for stress or whatever you were going to call it had I taken the time in the first place." His voice was gravely and hard still, making her wonder how long he had actually spent tangling with his demons.

"What are you getting at?" Daisuke sighed and turned back to the woman.

"I'm telling you that I am not going to be here for a while, if that is ok with you," he growled.

"What? Where the hell are you going?" Daisuke stared at the woman.

"What does it matter to you? Have you ever given a shit before this moment? No, so why start now?"

"I should because you're not exactly stable right now."

"So I'm a loose cannon now?" Kyoko sighed.

"That's now that I mean…"

"Then what DO you mean?"

"I mean you're not exactly yourself Daisuke; you're not thinking rationally, you're constantly upset, and it looks like you haven't slept in days. You're bound to make irrational decisions and get yourself hurt. And that's something you don't need to be doing right now."

"And since when have YOU cared about MY well being? The last time I checked, all you cared about was whether or not I've gotten my work done."

"You're going out into the world to do god knows what in a poor mental state; of course I'm concerned! You're going out to do something that is UNDOUBTEDLY stupid in a poor mental state which will probably get you killed and you dare ask me if I'm concerned? OF COURSE I'M CONCERNED. You could go get yourself killed out there, why wouldn't I be concerned?" Daisuke closed the few feet that separated them, staring down at the woman.

"Why wouldn't you be concerned? Why wouldn't you be concerned? Because you haven't been concerned any other time that I went out, half awake and unstable, and almost gotten myself killed. Why should you start caring about me now? You've never questioned anything I've ever done, why start now?" Kyoko backed away from him, inching towards the wall.

"Well, I…." Daisuke snorted.

"As I thought. My well being shouldn't be any of your present concern Kyoko; you have more important things to be worrying about." He took a few steps back, widening the gap between them. "I'll be back in a few days."

Before Kyoko could say anything else, Daisuke had disappeared.

She stood, visibly shaken by the man's behavior; she'd never seen Daisuke act like that ever before. The only thing she could do now was hope that the blonde came back in one piece.

* * *

He sat quietly at the bar, not really paying attention to the other patrons.

"Well hey there hot stuff." He turned slightly to find out the source of the annoying voice. The high pitched cry had come from a well endowed blonde woman who was practically clinging to his right elbow. "What brings a man like you to a place like this?" He shrugged; he really had no desire to converse with the annoying woman. "We don't see too many of your kind around here." _What? Intelligent men who actually prefer a woman not stacked like a deck of cards?_ "Is there anything I can do for you?" The woman leaned in a bit closer.

"Yes," he finally replied. He was beginning to pry her hands off of his arm. "You could go as far away from me as humanly possible and stay there." The woman released her grip and huffed angrily at him.

"Well I never…" She huffed off in an outstanding display of melodramatics. The man's attention was drawn back to what he was originally looking at when the bartender openly chuckled.

"Not too many men pass Renée up," he said, walking up to the man. "What makes you different from all the rest of the lechers?"

"I prefer my women to have less plastic in them than my watch," he replied bluntly. The bartender laughed.

"Good point. Can I get you anything son?" The man shook his head.

"I just came in here looking for information," he replied.

"On what?"

"Long range weapons." The bartender whistled.

"I can't help you there, but there is someone here who can. SHAN!" A woman on the other end of the bar turned. "I got a guy up here that needs your help." She nodded and made her way towards the bar.

"Help on what Arn?" she asked plunking down next to the man.

"Long range weapons," he replied. The spunky girl inspected the man sitting next to her; he looked like everyone who came through the bar, but something was slightly different about him.

"Those are a tough one," she replied. "Looking to get in or out?"

"In," he replied. The girl hissed.

"Can't really help ya there; most of the people who make them are always on the move. Sorry man."

"That's ok," he replied, getting up from his seat. "Thanks for your time anyway." He stepped down from the bar and disappeared into the crowd.

"Strange one he was," the bartender commented.

"Yeah. Maybe I should have pointed him towards the Werewolf…"

"Don't worry about it Shan, he'll find the shit sooner or later." The girl nodded, spun on her stool, and went back to her work.

* * *

He stood at the edge of the sewage river, leaning heavily on the safety railing.

He had spent the better part of two days wondering around the underworld searching for answers, only to come up empty handed. He couldn't find a thing that would help him break the case. _'And why did you even think there WOULD be a lead down here to begin with? Who ever did this is a hell of a lot smarter than you ever imagined.'_

"I thought that was you." He turned slightly to find out who his companion was, though he all ready knew.

"Boma," he replied.

"Daisuke," the werewolf answered back. "What brings you down here?"

"I'm looking for answers to questions that I'm not supposed to be answering."

"Does this involve the attempted assassination of your brother?" Daisuke stared at the other man, a little shocked at the fact that he knew.

"Yeah, it does actually." Daisuke fell silent again.

"It is weighing heavily on you, isn't it?" Daisuke nodded.

"It's not only the fact that he's been on death's door for almost a month now, but it's the fact that I can't find anything that comes close to a lead. Everything I find leads me straight to a dead end. And it bothers me that I can't break this. The other people they have on this case are too incompetent to actually get anywhere and it's really frustrating that I can't either."

"What are you looking for?"

"Someone who can make three shots from a long distance, in the rain, and make all three bullets go through the same hole without damaging the glass too much."

"So you are looking for an android with a sniper rifle of sorts?" Daisuke nodded.

"But do you have any idea how hard that is to find? Even with all my experience, I can't find one down here."

"Because you are too late." Daisuke cast a quizzical look to the werewolf. "There was an android produced down here some weeks ago, but it disappeared a short time after that."

"Do you know who took it above ground?" Boma nodded.

"It was taken…" The other man was cut off by a shower of gunfire that sent Daisuke diving to the ground and Boma disappearing into thin air.

Daisuke pushed himself up slightly to try and figure out where the bullets had come from, but was driven back down by another round. _'Great, I guess who ever built that thing doesn't want me to find out why they're behind this.'_ He pulled his gun out of his coat, sliding a Red Tab into the chamber. _'Well it's going to take a lot more than that to deter me.'_ He rolled up onto his side and aimed at a pipe above where he thought the gun fire was coming from. The gun whined as it powered up and then launched the bullet at the pipe. The pipe exploded the instant the bullet contacted the surface. Water rushed out of the pipe, flooding the walkway.

Taking the waterfall as a distraction, Daisuke surged to his feet, running towards the exit. He knew the people who were shooting at him wouldn't be distracted long, so it was better that he got moving. He tore down the pathway, his mind focused on the ladder in front of him.

He mounted the ladder and was halfway to the stairs when the first shot rang out. The bullet clearly missed him, but it did succeed in rattling his nerves. He froze for a moment on the ladder. The second bullet grazed his right hand, drawing him back to reality. He pulled himself up the last rungs of the ladder, not stopping to find who was shooting at him.

He had made it halfway up the spiraling staircase when he plowed into Boma again. Startled by the sudden intrusion, Daisuke stumbled backwards, falling down a few stairs.

"I am sorry," Boma said, helping Daisuke back to his feet. "I did not mean to scare you like that."

"It's ok Boma," he mumbled, dusting himself off. He stopped suddenly when he realized that Boma's sword was dripping in blood. "Well that answers that question." Boma looked at Daisuke quizzically before looking at his sword.

"Oh… I am sorry; your life was in danger, I thought I should do something about it."

"It's really ok Boma, don't worry about it."

"Are you all right?" Daisuke nodded, inspecting the small slice that went down the back of his right hand.

"Did you see who it was?" Boma shook his head.

"There was too much gun fire, I am sorry." Daisuke smiled weakly.

"It's ok Boma. Thanks anyway." He walked around the other man, and carried on up the stairs.

Boma watched silently at the spunky detective disappeared from his sight. "Do not let your worries consume you my friend; all wrongs shall be righted in the end."

* * *

Daisuke sighed, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets; the futile search was weighing heavily on his mind along with the one file on Shun's computer. There was something odd about the one piece of data that sat seemingly unused for quite some time on the city's network of hard drives.

Nothing ever lingered on any hard drive for that long, which made the thought disturbing. _'There must be something good in it if Shun still has it, but how in the name of all hell am I supposed to get into it with that password locked in place?'_ Daisuke sighed, kicking at one of the various pieces of litter lying around. _'There must be a way into it that I'm not seeing… God, why do I always end up on the wrong end of things like this? What have I done to deserve this kind of punishment?'_ His train of thought was stopped abruptly when a bullet whizzed past his ear.

Not even stopping to think about who was chasing him, he took off running down the street and into the market square. He weaved in and out of booths and around people, his pursuers hot on his heels. _'This isn't going to be a good night.'_

He hung a left at the end of one of the rows, tearing off into the alleyways.

"THAT WAY YOU IDIOTS!" _'Shit!'_

Once in the uncomfortable darkness of the alley, Daisuke latched onto the nearest fire escape and began scaling the building. He stopped a few floors shy of the top, leaning over the edge to gaze down at his pursuers. The men had piled into the confined quarters and were all wielding automatic weapons. _'Oh shit.'_

The men continued to search the alley for him.

"No why don't you come out now you little punk and make this easier for the lot of us?" One of the men growled. Daisuke inched away from the edge of the fire escape, causing the iron to creak under his weight, drawing the group's attention up to him.

"THERE!" Daisuke swung up onto the ladder and started climbing again as the men mounted the last one.

He pulled himself onto the roof of the building when he reached the end of the ladder and tore of across the tar papered surface.

The men sprung up after him a few moments later, not hesitating in chasing the man. Daisuke hesitated when he got to the other end of the building, not sure if he should carry on or face his attackers. The bullet that whizzed past his head drove him to jump the gap between the two buildings and keep running.

As he tore across the second building bullets were bouncing off of various structures, pinging as they came in contact with the metal.

He came to a screeching halt at the end of the next building, realizing it was a dead end. The next building was further away and six stories above his head. He leaned over the edge, figuring out what he could do now.

Below him lay two dumpsters and behind him lay a group of rather angry, rather large, very well armed men. _'I like my odds better with the dumpsters.'_ Without a second thought, Daisuke leapt over the edge of the building and plummeted towards the ground. The garbage he landed in broke his fall, but didn't take the sting out of it as much as he thought.

He rolled over and pulled himself to the edge of the dumpster. He climbed out and dropped to the ground, chancing a glance to the building above him.

The men had gathered at the edge, contemplating the jump themselves. Not willing to find out if they would actually jump or not, Daisuke took off again.

He stopped running after a few blocks, finally winded from exertion. He scanned the area for any signs of his followers, but the men weren't there anymore. With an exasperated sigh, he began walking towards the Safety Management Building where his office was held. _'Might as well try to figure this one out before I actually do get killed out here.'_

* * *

If it had been at all possible, Daisuke would have slammed the door when he passed through it. After the seemingly futile search of the underground for leads, being shot at and chased out of the underground just to be chased around half of the city to loose his pursuers in the tangle of people that accompanied the city in the early afternoon, and finding to leads to how to get into the damned information he needed to get into had left him tired and frustrated.

He stormed past J, ignoring his partner's probing question, and sat down at his own console to solve the mystery behind the file and his pursuers. He pounded away on his keys, trying to find anything that would quell his insatiable anger.

J watched his partner quietly; the man seemed unusually moody lately and it worried the android. Daisuke was not the sort of man to get emotionally upset over simple things, but it seemed to happen more often now than it had in the past.

Since Shun had been shot, he never seemed to be himself. There was something significantly different about his attitude; the normal, light teasing that went on between him and Kyoko had dissipated. Daisuke was hardly seen in the office and when he was he was very moody. The same sort of moody that he was now.

J knew better to press the man when he was upset, so he left it alone for the time being.

Daisuke sat at his desk, staring at him computer; the infernal machine had been telling him the same thing about the document as it had on Shun's console. _'You're smarter than this god-damned machine __Aurora_ he growled at himself. He knew he was being blocked by someone else on the network; the one person who knew what that document could lead to: the ruin of their master plot. _'Because you know damn well you're the only one here smart enough to figure this whole mess out and they know it too. They're blocking you to keep you from getting what you want: good, plain, honest justice.'_ Daisuke sighed, growing more aggravated at the situation. _'You carry the name __Aurora__; you can't have justice like every other asshole in this god damned city. And you can't have it because it would be too good for you. And having something good for you would go against the nature of your name. And you know that damn well, don't you Daisuke? You know that you can't EVER have what you WANT.'_ He stared a hole though his computer screen, the voice still mocking him. _'You can't live the good life like everyone else. You will never have what you want out of life; you'll always be alone and miserable…'_

"No," he mumbled. "No, no, no, no, I WON'T HAVE THIS!" His char flew backwards as he stood up. Gripping the edge of his monitor, he flung the whole system off of his desk, silencing the mocking voice in his head.

The monitor shattered when it hit the wall, sending shards of plastic into the air.

Daisuke stood silently for a moment, quietly contemplating what he did before tearing out of the office, leaving a confused J in his wake.

* * *

Kyoko walked silently down the hall on her way back from her lunch break. The reprieve from work hadn't done much for her because he mind was still wrapped around Daisuke. She hadn't heard from the man in three days and she was beginning to think that he was dead. _'Now that's ridiculous, Dice is careless, but not that careless.'_ She sighed; this wouldn't be easy to deal with until Daisuke returned.

"Hey Kyoko!" She stopped and turned to see Antonia approaching from the other end of the hall.

"Antonia?" The older woman stopped, pausing to catch her breath.

"Has Dice been through here?" Kyoko blinked, caught off guard by the question.

"Dice? No, I haven't seen him for a few days. Why?"

"J was looking for him upstairs; he was complaining about Daisuke being unstable and his computer console is in about a hundred thousand pieces on your office floor." Kyoko blinked a few times, processing what the woman said.

"Why would Daisuke do something like that?" Antonia shrugged.

"That's why I came looking for you; I thought you might know."

"I really don't know what would have caused this. As I said, I haven't seen him…" She stopped when the gothic clad form of Daisuke bolted past them.

"What was that?" Antonia asked, watching him dash down the stairs and out of sight. Kyoko sighed.

"That was Daisuke."

"What?" Kyoko sighed again.

"Come on, I'll explain the whole thing once we get back to the office."

* * *

Kyoko sighed and turned to Antonia.

"I make no promises about what we'll find," she admitted. Antonia nodded.

"I realize that," she replied. "But he really needs to be checked on." Kyoko nodded.

"Ok then, here goes nothing." Kyoko swung the door open to Daisuke's apartment.

The two stepped into the front room cautiously; there was no sign of the man in the apartment. Antonia sighed.

"This seems like a bust." Kyoko nodded.

"It doesn't look like he's here," she replied. "Which is odd because his door was unlocked."

"You think he left in a hurry?" Antonia asked.

"Left to go where? He'd get shot at if he went anywhere dressed like he was."

"I didn't GO ANYWHWERE." The two exchanged glances and walked over to the kitchen.

Lying sprawled out on the floor, lying in a pool of alcohol was Daisuke.

"Daisuke?" Kyoko questioned.

"Well at least you know who I am," he replied.

"Why are you on the floor?" Antonia asked.

'I'm having a conversation with the ceiling, can't you see that?" The two exchanged worried glances. Antonia motion to the other end of the room. Kyoko nodded and followed the other woman to the other end of the room.

"This isn't good," Antonia whispered. Kyoko nodded.

"I think he's had a bit too much to drink," Kyoko replied mimicking Antonia's tone.

"You think we should get him checked out?" Kyoko nodded.

"It's gonna be a long ride to the hospital." Antonia nodded.

"I hear ya." The pair walked back to where Daisuke was sprawled out on the floor.

Being wary of the alcohol on the floor, the two pulled the man to his feet, slinging one arm over each of their shoulders. "Ugh, he smells like booze."

"At least he got rid of the goth garb."

"I hear ya." The pair carefully maneuvered him out of the apartment and Antonia held him up while Kyoko locked the door.

"Where are we going?" Daisuke asked, slightly confused.

"We," Antonia replied, shifting his weight back onto Kyoko. "Are taking you to the hospital."

"Oh no you're not," he replied, struggling to get out of their grip.

"Daisuke," Kyoko growled. "Don't fight us; you need help and you're going to get it whether you like it or not." Daisuke sighed, giving up his struggle. _'This is going to be a LONG night,'_ he thought as the two women led him out of the building.

* * *

"You're not going to win this one Aurora! Get in there and pack!" Kyoko shoved him roughly into his bedroom.

"I TOLD YOU I WAS FINE!" Daisuke barked back. "I DON'T NEED YOU TO BE PLAYING MOTHER HEN!" Kyoko snorted, blocking the doorway.

"Well that's not what the ER doc said," she growled back. "You need to be watched, so get packing. I don't want to be here all night." Defeated, Daisuke started throwing things into his gym bag, stopping every now and again to glare at the woman. "And don't think that glaring at me is going to help because it's not.

Daisuke stepped into his bathroom, tossing various objects into the bag, stopping briefly at a set of three prescriptions on the shelf. With a resigned sigh, he tossed them into the bag too. He stepped back out into his bedroom, put on a hooded sweatshirt and then turned back to Kyoko. "You done?" He nodded. "Ok then." She stepped out of the doorway to allow him to pass. He walked past her and out the front door. Kyoko followed him, locking the door behind them. "You know this would go a lot easier if you were civil."

"Give me a reason to," he growled folding his arms and walking away from her. Kyoko sighed and followed him.

The pair walked down the stairs, out the front door, and to where Kyoko's grandfather sat in the parking lot. Daisuke pulled the back door open, tossed his bag in, and followed suit, slamming the door shut. Kyoko sighed and got into the front.

"We ready to go?" the old man asked. Kyoko nodded. He smiled at the girl, put the car into gear, and drove off. The trio sat in silence until the older man spoke up again. "So what's the problem son?" Daisuke stared at him for a moment, before turning back to the window; Kyoko sighed at his action.

"Don't mind him Gramps," she added quietly. "He's not exactly in the best of moods right now."

"What's the problem? Trouble in paradise?" Kyoko snorted quietly.

"You could say that."

"Well you know, there was this one time…" Daisuke sighed, drowning out the man's anecdote about some trivial subject. He wanted nothing more than to be left alone, but he knew that wouldn't happen since he was "emotionally unstable" as the house psychiatrist had put it. Knowing it was going to be a long ride, he leaned back in his seat and shut his eyes, praying the sleep aid the doctor had given him would take effect.

* * *

"Are you sure I can't get you something honey?" Daisuke opened his eyes and looked up at the chipper woman for a moment before returning to his original position: eyes shut, his chin resting in his right hand, listening to the various goings on of the apartment.

When they arrived the previous night, Daisuke had ignored the various probing questions from various people and succumbed to the power of the sleep aid almost instantly. Now, much to his chagrin and to his body's complaint, he was awake again and now had to endure the onslaught of questions.

"Don't mind him," Kyoko said, entering the kitchen. "He tends to disregard everything now a days." Daisuke snorted at the comment. "Something wrong?"

"Yes," he hissed. "I don't disregard everything"

"Oh really?" she barked back. "Then why did Antonia and I find you drunk on your kitchen floor yesterday?"

"I wasn't drunk," he growled quietly.

"If you weren't drunk, then why are you hung over now?" she questioned.

"I'm not hung over," he replied flatly.

"Well it doesn't matter anyway; you're still ignoring your own health and well being."

"Will you two please give it a rest?' Kyoko's mother asked.

"Tell it to her," Daisuke mumbled. "She started it."

"I started it?" she spat back. "The last time I checked, you were the one who went out and almost got himself killed."

"I do that everyday Kyoko," he replied. "You know that."

"Yes, but it isn't usually accompanied by predatory advances." Daisuke's eyes shot open, locking onto hers with a cold glare.

"There was nothing predatory about that," he growled lowly.

"There wasn't? Well it seemed like there was to me and Antonia agrees with me." Daisuke groaned at the addition of that news, rolling his neck in exasperation before snapping back to the woman.

"Are you going to tell the WHOLE WORLD about my private affairs?"

"If it keeps you from getting yourself killed, stoned, or plastered off of your ass, then yes, I intend to keep telling people."

"I was not drunk." Daisuke was slowly loosing control; each of his sentences were coming out more and more like a growl. He would have stormed out earlier, but he knew Kyoko wouldn't let this go until they had settled it and he intended to settle it fast so he could finish sleeping off the pill he had taken the night before.

"Oh really? It sure looked like you were."

"I wasn't DRUNK."

"How could you not be Daisuke? You were lying in a pool of alcohol."

"I wasn't **DRUNK.**"

"And I'm supposed to believe that with the way you were acting when we found you? Dice, there is no doubt in my mind that you were drunk."

"I WASN'T **DRUNK.**" One by one, the other inhabitants of the apartment had crept out of the shadows to find out what was going on."

"Will you stop fighting me? I know you were drunk, so why don't you admit it so we can move on?" Daisuke slammed his hands down onto the counter and rose to his feet, knocking over the stool he was sitting on.

"**I WAS NOT DRUNK.**" He growled one last time, the last of his control slipping away from him. "You really think I was drunk? You really have it set in your head that I was drunk?" He grabbed the edge of his shirt, pulled it over his head, and flung it to the floor. He then turned his back to the two women, "Do you REALLY THINK I was capable of doing that if I was drunk?" His back was laced with various lengths of red lines. He turned back to them, his eyes cold. "Do you think a drunk would have enough control to do something like this?" He showed them his right hand; spanning the length of it was a stitched gash. Kyoko remembered the ER doctors saying something about the glass in his back, but nothing about any other wounds that needed to be seen too. The stitches were neat and the wound looked clean, much like the two larger ones on his back. "Do you really think a drunk has enough dexterity to make stitches that neat?" His eyes were still boring into her. "No." He answered before she could. "I wedged a chunk of glass out of my hand, cleaned it, and stitched it before hitting the floor. And you know why there was all that alcohol on my floor? I broke each and every one of those bottles out of rage. Rage because I am loosing my wits over this; I have found nothing that can point me to what I so desperately need to know, the few people I do trust enough to consider friends are betraying me, and the only person who could even come close to making it better is almost dead." Despite his extreme anger, the first few in an onslaught of tears slid down his face. Daisuke tried to battle them back, but it was to no avail. "Are you happy now? ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY NOW?" He stared at her for a moment, waiting for her to reply, but she didn't.

Receiving no answer, Daisuke stormed from his spot and back to the guest room he was residing in, ignoring the other occupants of the house.

When he slammed the door, Kyoko was shaken from her ravine; she suddenly felt awful about pressing him so hard about it. She looked at her mother and then the three other men of the house guiltily before walking around the counter and picking up Daisuke's shirt. The hunk of fabric clutched in her hands, she slowly made her way to the guest room, silently hoping Daisuke would accept her apology.

* * *

Kyoko pushed the door open and peered into the room. The blonde detective was curled up on his side, his back facing the door. He was faking sleep to avoid the inevitable confrontation.

"Daisuke?" The man didn't respond. Kyoko walked over to him and sat on the edge of the bed. "I know you're not asleep; I've seen you sleep in the office enough time to know that you're not." Daisuke sighed; he wasn't in the mood to be dealing with her. "Look Dice, I'm sorry for badgering you about it, but you looked and acted drunk yesterday."

"It's all right." He rolled over and sat up, regretting it instantly. His head was still throbbing from smashing into the floor. "I guess I kinda deserved it." He rubbed at his temples, trying to get the pain to go away.

"You ok?" She had turned to look at him to make sure he honestly wasn't mad at her.

"Just a killer headache, that's all."

"Killer headache?" Daisuke nodded.

"Smashed into the floor a bit too hard." Kyoko hissed.

"Can I get you anything for it?" Daisuke shook his head gently.

"Nah, I've gotta sleep off the chaser of that damn pill anyway."

"You don't like sleep aids, I take it?" Daisuke shook his head again.

"Hate the damn things with a vengeance. I don't like things that tamper with my sleep cycles."

"Like what?"

"Those," he pointed to three bottles sitting on the side table. "For one." Kyoko picked up the three bottles, inspecting them all. She recognized the first one, OxyContin, as a pain killer. The other two she had never seen before. She held the middle bottle up for Daisuke to see. "Muscle relaxer." She held up the last one. Daisuke squinted at it, thinking for a moment. "Anti-inflammatory." Kyoko set the three bottles down.

"And you take all three of these at the same time?"

"Only if necessary, but I tend to avoid the Oxy as much as possible."

"Why?"

"It does its job very well, but it makes me really sick in the process."

"Oh… Those from your back injury?" Daisuke nodded.

"I only take them when I can't move as well as I usually can or the pain is really bad. But I try not to take all three of them at once."

"Why?"

"All three of them make me dizzy and sick. As long as I don't take all three, I'm all right." Kyoko shifted back on the bed and scooted up next to him.

"Is it really that bad all of the time?" Daisuke shook his head.

"It usually gets bad if I over work it or the weather is taking a turn."

"That's gotta suck."

"Yeah, makes it hard to work." The pair fell into an uncomfortable silence again.

"Dice," Kyoko started again, quietly. "Are you ok?"

"Hmm? I guess, I mean I'm still a little sore…"

"That's not what I mean Dice. I mean emotionally. It's not like you to snap like that." Daisuke sighed.

"I guess I'm not, really." He pulled his knees up to his chest and perched his chin atop of them. "It's just really hard for me to deal with this. I just can't stand on the sidelines and do nothing, the case wouldn't get anywhere if I did, but in the same respect, the further I get into this, the less I find. And there are times that I stop and I wonder 'Why the hell am I doing this?' And I can't answer myself. I can't find a good answer that explains why the hell I'm doing this. I know I'm doing it because I love my brother and I want to know who did this so I can get some sort of justice, but then again, I think I'm doing it out of my own insecurity. I'm in denial over the fact that my brother could die right now and I'd never see him again so I throw myself into my work to avoid that denial. I'm such a mess." He shifted, placing his forehead on his arms to avoid Kyoko's gaze.

"It is ok to be concerned about someone else for once." Daisuke raised his head to look at her. "You can't spend your entire life brushing things off because you don't like the way they turn out; it's not healthy to do that. I think by realizing there is a chance that your brother could die, you've found a weakness in yourself that you've never seen before and that scares you. But that's ok Dice; having weaknesses is what makes us human. So your life is falling apart in your hands, it happens to all of us. You just need to learn to pick up the pieces and move on. Don't think about the fact that your brother could die any second, relish in the fact that he's still living now." Daisuke hung his head again, fighting back his tears.

'But I can't Kyoko; every time I go into that room, I see my father's corpse instead of my brother. And that scares me. I can't bear to loose the last family member I have. And the worst part is there is nothing I can do about it. I hate feeling this helpless!" Kyoko pulled the crying man into an embrace.

"It's ok Daisuke, it's ok. It'll all work out in the end, I promise." She continued to hold him until he stopped crying. She went to ask him something, but when she turned to him, she realized that he had fallen asleep. She didn't want to wake him when she moved, so she stayed put, letting him sleep on her shoulder for a while.

* * *

Daisuke settled down on his bed, ready to take one last crack at the mystery document. The two nights he had spent at Kyoko's had cleared his thoughts a bit and set him back on the right path again.

"Ok you little bastard, you're not going to win this time."

He opened the file he had stashed the document in and clicked it, bringing up the password prompt. He punched in the one thing that he knew his father would use as a password and, sure enough, the document opened. "Jackpot!" He slowly began reading it, not believing what was in it.

_Aurora-___

_This is your final warning. If you do not take these bills off of the floor, you will pay dearly for it. There will be no one who will be able to protect you from us. And if you don't think that we wouldn't do it, then I suggest you keep a closer eye on your kids, you never know when one of them might have an "accident."_

Daisuke stared blankly at the screen. He couldn't believe what he was reading. _'A death threat? But why would someone send dad a death… threat… The two bills he pushed through the Senate. The only thing he's known for aside from being assassinated. But why would they wait 17 years to go after us?'_ He shut down his computer, plucked his keys off of the table and headed to the door. _'What are you hiding from me Shun? What are you doing up there that's making them come after us?'_

* * *

Daisuke settled into his brother's chair and started up his computer, easily bypassing the password.

He started to search through the various files stored on Shun's computer, trying to find the missing link between the document that belonged to his father and his brother's shooting. _'The connection must be here somewhere. Come on Shun, don't hold out on me now.'_

He continued to plow through his files, not finding anything until coming to the last file. He opened the document revealing a memo for the capture of a mob subsidiary that was smuggling long range arms into the city. _'Holy shit… How did I miss this the first time?'_

Daisuke didn't have much time to contemplate his mistake because a shot shattered through the monitor and his instincts drove him to dive to the floor. He stayed in the prone position behind his brother's desk before rising slowly to his feet. He ducked back below the desk when the next round of bullets flew past his head. _'Ok, bad idea.'_

He pulled his gun from its resting place and slid three bullets into the chamber. _'Don't wanna kill the bastard; just want to wound him enough to get my tail out of here.'_ He pooped up over the desk, fired at the large man at the other end of the room and ducked back behind the desk. The bullet hit the man and bounced. _'Well there goes that idea. Bastards don't fuck around when they want someone dead, now do they? I've got an android on my ass, one Red Tab, and now way to get in contact with J because I left my…'_ He pulled the Red Tab out of his pocket along with his phone. _'MY PHONE! Oh thank god.'_ He slid the phone over his ear and opened a direct line to his partner.

"Yes Daisuke?"

"J," Daisuke said loading the Red Tab into his gun. "I need a little help over here. I've got an android who's hell bent on seeing me dead and I don't have a lot of options to get myself out of the situation with."

"Rodger. I will be there as soon as I can." The line went dead.

Daisuke took a deep breath to steady himself then rose to his feet. The android turned to him, raising his own weapon. Daisuke fired his one shot then tore off towards the door. _'As long as I'm moving, it'll be harder for the damn thing to…'_ his train of thought was cut off when he was abruptly grabbed by the collar and hurled across the room.

Pain flared down his back and his legs as he plowed through a column, into the wall behind it, and landed on the floor with a thud and a sickening crunch.

Daisuke pushed himself up slowly, his body protesting as he did so. His right shoulder sent sparks into his eyes as he pushed up, getting himself into a sitting position. _'That's going to leave a mark…'_ He slowly stood up just to fall to the floor again when his left leg gave out. _'That answers that question.'_ He remained there, trying to figure out a plan; he came up with nothing. _'Ok, it's official, I'm dead. There's nothing I can do until J gets here and he can only get here so fast.'_

He watched in fear as the android approached him. He scooted back away from the beast of a man, but it was no avail. The machine picked him up and tossed him over his shoulder with a hiss. Daisuke stared at the gaping hole that the bullet had caused; the wiring was flowing out of the hole, cracking with small electrical bolts too close to his face. _'How in the hell is this thing still functioning? That should have… Oh shit…'_ __

Before Daisuke had time to react, the machine had slid him off of its shoulder and hurled him out of one of the large windows of Shun's office. The glass dug into the flesh of his arms as he protected his head.

The sensation was akin to flying, but instead of moving away from the ground, the ground was coming up a bit to fast for his liking.

Daisuke bit his lip and wrenched his eyes shut, bracing for the impact that would end his short life. The impact never came.

His landing was surprisingly softer than he had imagined it would be and was accompanied by the gentle whine of J's express cooling system. Daisuke cracked an eye open, not sure of what he would find there.

"Daisuke?" Both of his eyes fluttered open, revealing the concerned face of J. "Daisuke, are you all right?" Daisuke let out a shaky breath, trying to calm his thoroughly rattled nerves.

"Yeah J," he replied shakily. "I am now."

* * *

Shun sat quietly, leafing through the pages of his book. It had been a few days since he had woken up and the pain hadn't abated, but it was lessening as the days passed. But the pain wasn't the distraction keeping him from his book.

In the four days that he'd been awake, he hadn't seen his brother once. It was odd; the nurse said he had been in every day for weeks, but then suddenly stopped a few days ago.

Shun sighed; _'It's best not to think about it. He's probably got a good reason for being busy and he'll realize his mistake and come see you soon.'_

"Did you hear about the incident at the Safety Management Headquarters?" A nurse questioned, just outside of Shun's door.

"How could I not?" another replied. "It's all the local stations are talking about. It's a wonder that he's still alive." Shun stopped reading, becoming intrigued by their conversation.

"Yeah," the first replied. "By all laws of Physics, the paramedics should have been peeling him off of the sidewalk." Shun placed his finger in his book, marking his page; the conversation was too interesting for him to be reading. "He's a damn luck bastard to still be living."

"Damn lucky? Yeah, damn lucky is walking away with two additional pins in your back rather than road kill."

"Ah. Here comes our favorite physics opposer now." Shun watched quietly as a trio of nurses rolled another bed into his room. "Hope you don't mind having company," one of them quipped as they hovered around the bed. "When he supposed to wake up?"

"A few hours, though he's got enough sedatives to keep him out of a week," another replied. "Why do you want to know?"

"Dr. Katsuragi, the kid's ortho surgeon, wants to see him once he wakes up."

"Ah. I'll make note of it." The last nurse scribbled the note down on the chart and headed for the door.

"Hey!' The nurse stopped and turned to him. "What's his story?" Shun motioned to the adjacent bed.

"Him?" the nurse questioned back. "You haven't heard about him?" Shun shook his head. "This kid took a dive out of the window in your office and lived to tell about it."

"Oh." Shun watched the nurse walk out and then turned to the other bed.

"Oh sweet son of a bitch…"

* * *

The first thing that flooded his senses was pain. _'GOD. I wish I would stop waking up like this. It would make my life so much more pleasant.'_

"You know Dice, most base jumpers usually jump WITH a parachute." Daisuke groaned. _'Of all the places… Why did it HAVE to be HIS room?'_ "There MUST be a good story behind this."

"Can we talk about it later?" Daisuke whined. "I just woke up and I'm in QUITE a bit of pain here."

"I'd imagine; thrown through a pillar and out the window, that must have hurt." Daisuke sighed.

"Must you patronize me NOW?"

"Oh yes, I must. I've also heard that you've been running around dressed as a goth." Daisuke groaned.

"Shun…"

"Have gotten yourself shot at innumerous times…"

"Shun…"

"Were found in a pool of alcohol on your kitchen floor?"

"Shun…"

"And then you get thrown out of my window; this must be one HELL of a story."

"SHUN!" The elder Aurora turned to his brother. The younger was choking back tears. "You don't think I haven't been thinking about how stupid I've been acting? You don't think I don't KNOW THAT!" Shun sighed.

"Look Dice… I… I'm sorry. I guess this is kinda my fault, isn't it? I didn't mean for you to go through all of this. Damnit, I should have sent that damn memo out sooner."

"Don't… don't blame yourself. I could have left it alone and still ended up here anyway. At least the way I did it, I had fun doing it." Shun shook his head.

"So did you really dress up like a goth or is Kyoko just a really elaborate liar?" Daisuke chuckled for a moment before the pain over took him again.

"She's a good liar, but not that good."

"Teal hair? I thought that I'd never live to see that again." Daisuke chuckled.

"And it wasn't a couple of stripes this time; it was the whole lot of it."

"All of it?" Daisuke nodded.

"All of it." Shun chuckled.

"God… That must have been some show."

"It was, it was."

"Am I ever going to get to see this look of yours?"

"Maybe, if you ask nicely." Shun chuckled.

"Dice, are you really ok?"

"Two more pins in my back, a dislocated shoulder, a leg fractured in three places, two showerings of glass, and a six in gash in my right hand; yeah, I'd say I am. Hey, think of it this way, at least they didn't peel me off the sidewalk and take you downstairs to I.D. what was left of me, right?" Shun chuckled.

"You and only you could take that as being ok."

"I can't help it; aside from the pain, this is the best I've felt in weeks."

"And why was that?"

"Because." He turned slightly to face Shun. "I now know that you're gonna be ok." Shun smiled.

"I'm glad to know that. Now you should get back to resting; last time I checked, you were complaining about sleeping." Daisuke chuckled, rolling back onto his back.

"All right, all right; I'm not gonna win this argument, am I?"

"Nope." Daisuke sighed.

"All right, all right." Shun smiled, watching his younger brother drift back into the painless oblivion of sleep. _'Some pair we make, huh Dice? We can't escape our fates, no matter who tries to seal them, but at least we have the assurance that we'll always have each other to pick of the pieces of our broken lives once the dust settles.'_

* * *

I actually think the fact that my computer ate the first five pages of this two months ago was a good thing. It's actually better this way, though it took me way to long to finish it. And I'd like to thank you for actually reading the whole thing. I know it was long, but I'm hoping you enjoyed reading it as much as I did creating it.


End file.
